9/11 and U.S./Latin American Relations Focus of Talk

The Latin American and Iberian Institute presents, "9/11 and U.S.- Latin American Relations," by Peter H. Smith, Latin American scholar and author, Monday, Jan. 23 from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. in Social Sciences room 2069.

Smith specializes in comparative politics, Latin American politics, and U.S.-Latin American relations. He is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Simon Bolivar Professor of Latin American Studies and adjunct professor of history at University of California, San Diego.

His major publications include Politics and Beef in Argentina: Patterns of Conflict and Change (1969), Argentina and the Failure of Democracy: Conflict among Political Elites, 1904-1955 (1974), Labyrinths of Power: Political Recruitment in Twentieth-Century Mexico (1979), Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of U.S.-Latin American Relations (1996; 2nd edition, 2000), and Democracy in Latin America: Political Change in Comparative Perspective (2005).

He is co-author of Modern Latin America (1984), now in its sixth edition (2004) and a selection of the History Book Club. He is also the editor or co-editor of more than a dozen anthologies, among them Drug Policy in the Americas (1992), Latin America in Comparative Perspective: New Approaches to Methods and Analysis (1995), NAFTA in the New Millennium (2002), East Asia and Latin America: The Unlikely Alliance (2003), and Promises of Empowerment: Women in Asia and Latin America (2004).

Smith has served as president of the Latin American Studies Association and has been a consultant to the Ford Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and other institutions. At UCSD, Smith served as director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (1989-2001) and director of Latin American Studies (1994-2001). He is also the moderator of "HemiScope," a UCSD-TV news program about current events in Latin America that is broadcast via cable and satellite throughout the United States.